Chapter 29
◎ Separated from Feng Guangmei at the intersection, Bei Bitang shielded herself from the direct sunlight with her hands.◎
After separating from Feng Guangmei at the intersection, Bei Bitang shielded herself from the direct sunlight with her hands and trotted home.
Before I reached the door of my house, I heard voices coming from inside. Lin Bilan was laughing so hard that the floor was shaking. It seemed that my elder sister was in a good mood today.
The little kid lying on the floor at the door, playing with a little frog, looked up at Bei Bitang and said with a smile, "Auntie, you're back."
Bei Bitang rubbed his face, went into the house, and changed his shoes before realizing that there were guests at home.
Sitting at the table was a woman wearing a gray-blue short-sleeved shirt and light brown pants. She looked about ten years younger than Miao Xiuxiu, with short hair and a capable demeanor. But because she was smiling, she seemed gentle.
She and Miao Xiuxiu were the polar opposites, and Bei Bitang was a little puzzled. When had Miao Xiuxiu become friends with such a person? A child knows a mother best, and Miao Xiuxiu hated this type of person the most. She thought they were pretentious, seemingly friendly, but in reality, it was all pretense. They were snobbish and always flattered the powerful and looked down on the weak.
On the contrary, Bei Bitang felt that the biggest reason why Miao Xiuxiu disliked such people was that if Miao Xiuxiu could live a smooth life in the second half of her life, she would look like this in middle age, but unfortunately there is no if, so Miao Xiuxiu couldn't bear to see another "her" in the world living a happy life.
When I saw it, my past seemed particularly bitter in comparison, and my current situation was not much better.
Lin Bilan sat next to the woman, peeling an apple while she talked to her with a smile, her voice more than twice as cheerful as usual.
Miao Xiuxiu waved towards Bei Bitang and said, "Bitang, come here."
Lin Bilan looked at the woman and smiled. "This is my little sister, the youngest in the family. She just returned to Shanghai from the northwest and works in a small vegetable market."
After Bei Bitang changed her shoes and came over, Miao Xiuxiu said, "Bitang, this is Director He's wife, Aunt Feng."
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Bilan quickly added, "He's also the chairman of our factory's labor union, Chairman Feng."
Bei Bitang turned to Feng Jiaqing and greeted her with a smile, "Hello, Aunt Feng."
Didn't the eldest sister let her mother hook up with He Zhiguo's mother? How did she hook up with his wife?
Feng Jiaqing nodded and smiled at Bei Bitang. He looked her up and down calmly before saying gently, "You're so beautiful, with such fair skin. My eyes lit up when you walked in."
Miao Xiuxiu agreed and said, "My little daughter has no other advantages, only her looks."
Feng Jiaqing smiled and said, "Xiu Xiu, you are too modest."
Lin Bilan echoed her leader's words and retorted to Miao Xiuxiu, "That's right, Mom, Chairman Feng is right. My little sister is gentle and sensible, a good cook, and she's also good at sewing. She can even take care of little ones. There's more to her than just her looks."
Suddenly remembering something, Lin Bilan said in a louder voice, "She can also write calligraphy. She has the fragrance of books."
Bei Bitang whispered, "That's not called calligraphy, it's called writing."
Lin Bilan's voice was too loud, and Feng Jiaqing didn't hear Bei Bitang's words clearly. She frowned slightly and asked, "What? What did Bitang just say?"
Lin Bilan stuffed the peeled apple into her hand and said, "Chairman Feng, have an apple. The apples you brought are really sweet. I've never eaten such a sweet and crisp apple."
Facing someone she didn't know well, Bei Bitang felt embarrassed again. She said aloud, "It's too sunny outside. It makes me dizzy. I'm going inside to rest for a while."
Without waiting for Miao Xiuxiu and Lin Bilan to speak, she swooped into the inner room and lowered the curtains around.
Miao Xiuxiu's voice came through the thin layer, "Really, don't be offended, Mom Dafei. My daughter Bitang is just petty and can't stand up to the big stage."
Feng Jiaqing's voice remained gentle, unchanged. "It's okay. All children are like this. They are impatient to talk to adults. My Dafei is like this too. I understand."
Bei Bitang lay on the bed, waiting with her eyes closed. She felt thirsty and wanted to go out to drink water, but she resisted the urge to go out.
Fortunately, Feng Jiaqing didn't stay too long. He stood up and said he was leaving. Then the attentive and sticky voices of Miao Xiuxiu and Lin Bilan could be heard saying goodbye.
Without an alarm clock, Bei Bitang herself is the alarm clock. She has formed the habit of getting up on time at four o'clock.
She quietly went to the kitchen and turned on the high-pressure steel cooker.
The pot was half filled with cold water, with a yellow enamel plate floating on it. The plate was filled with light gray brown rice and a little bit of assorted pickles and fermented bean curd.
Bei Bitang swiftly picked up the enamel dish and poured the food into her aluminum lunch box. She then rinsed the enamel dish with water from the pot and placed it on the stove to dry naturally.
Outside the window, houses with white walls and black tiles gradually emerged from the morning mist.
Bei Bitang went upstairs again, slowing her breathing. She took out her towel and washbasin, went to the sink downstairs, brushed her teeth, washed her face, and combed her hair. Bei Bitang had mastered the art of combing her hair neatly and braiding her two pigtails smoothly without a mirror.
During this period, a neighbor aunt got up early and took a bus to Suzhou to visit relatives. Bei Bitang saw her and greeted her.
At five fifty-five, Bei Bitang arrived at the back door of the small vegetable market carrying a small army green schoolbag.
She first went to the locker room to put down her small schoolbag, quickly changed her clothes, then ran out of the locker room door and started her day's work.
Outside the small market, the sun was rising, already blazing brightly. The winding rivers of the city were dark grey and murky green, rarely clear, and emanated the stench of decay.
On the larger river outside the city, workers at the small docks were already busy. Smoke rose from the small fishing boats floating on the river. Along the shore, shops selling fried dough sticks, scallion pancakes, fried dumplings, steamed buns, and wontons... began setting up large pots, boiling water and sending plumes of white mist rising.
Bei Bitang was scraping the fish scales while listening to the next customer's needs.
A moment later, she accurately threw the fish into the buyer's basket without even looking. At the same time, she bent down, reached into the pool with her tender hands, and grabbed the fish that the next customer wanted.
Bei Bitang has done this job very well. Even when Jin Jianghai is not there, she can manage the entire fish stall by herself.
"Master, give me a sea bass weighing more than two kilograms. I won't kill it."
Bei Bitang felt the voice sounded familiar and looked up, her eyes meeting Feng Jiaqing's.
It turned out to be Feng Jiaqing, who was visiting her home that day. She had been killing fish here for so many days, but she had never seen Feng Jiaqing before. Why did Feng Jiaqing come to this small vegetable market to buy fish today?
Bei Bitang didn't intend to say hello. She silently withdrew her gaze and lowered her head to clean the frozen squid on the chopping board.
Feng Jiaqing didn't speak to Bei Bitang either. She gave him the money for the fish, took the sea bass strung with straw rope, put it in the vegetable basket she was carrying, and left immediately.
As the market closed, Bei Bitang began scooping out water from the sinks. After emptying all three, she picked up the broom and started cleaning up. Jin Jianghai was also busy, cleaning the chopping board and knives.
It took her more than half an hour to finish everything she needed to do. Bei Bitang said goodbye to her master Jin Jianghai and prepared to take the bus home.
Jin Jianghai did not wave his hand to let Bei Bitang go like he did before.
He pointed at the dead fish in the varnished basin and said, "Take some home. Eating plain rice and pickles all day, I'm worried you'll faint from malnutrition one day. It's not the early 1960s, there's no food to eat. Eat more, or you won't say I, your master, have to work you too hard and make you skinny."
Bei Bitang said, "Master, no need. I had a good breakfast and dinner, but lunch was a bit simple. I was tired and hot, so I couldn't eat much. That's why I only brought soaked rice and pickles to avoid waste."
Jin Jianghai kicked the basin with his foot and said sullenly, "Just take it if I give it to you!"
Bei Bitang could only string a bunch of small fish together with a straw rope. She said, "Master, thank you."
Jin Jianghai waved his hand and said, "Stop talking nonsense and go back!"
Bei Bitang took the benefits given by her master home. There was no fire in the house yet, and only Miao Xiuxiu and Xiao Maotou were at home.
She deftly steamed a pot of mixed-grain rice and braised the small fish she brought back with some garlic sprouts for tonight's main course. She also made egg drop and seaweed soup.
As the meal was served, Bei Bitang paused, remembering Jin Jianghai's words. After a moment's hesitation, she took out a clean bowl and reserved a small fish and three tablespoons of juice for herself. She would take it to the market tomorrow. She couldn't let her master down.
Just as the meal was ready, Lin Bilan returned just in time. Since Huang Dashan hadn't come home yet, everyone sat and waited for him.
I don’t know how long I waited, but the little boy’s stomach started to growl, his mouth pouted, and he was about to cry.
Bei Bitang quickly picked up the spoon, scooped a small spoonful of egg drop soup, and fed it into his mouth.
The tears in the little boy's eyes faded away, and Bei Bitang said, "Mom, let's eat first. The little boy is crying with hunger, and children can't go hungry."
Miao Xiuxiu still felt sorry for the little boy, so she said, "I'll save some food for my uncle first."
While eating, Lin Bilan kept muttering, "Dashan, you didn't come back for dinner, and you didn't even send a message back."
The four of them were almost having dinner when Huang Dashan came back.
As soon as he entered the door, he took off his shirt, threw his half-wet jacket onto the washstand, and rinsed his hands perfunctorily.
Huang Dashan walked up to the dining table, sat down, and first said to Bei Bitang, "Little sister."
Bei Bitang nodded, without looking at him, and said "hmm" coldly, putting down her bowl and chopsticks, meaning that she was full.
As Bei Bitang was leaving with the thermos, she heard Huang Dashan ask, "What food did you leave for me? I've been working so hard today, I'm so hungry I didn't even have time for lunch."
Lin Bilan said distressedly, "Why don't you eat lunch? If you get a stomachache from hunger, what will happen to me, the little one, and Mom? If there's too much work, just don't do it for now and eat lunch first."
Miao Xiuxiu replied, "Son-in-law, I left you some braised small fish and seaweed egg drop soup."
Huang Dashan said unsatisfiedly: "Just these side dishes?"
Lin Bilan said, "Then shall I fry you a bowl of eggs?"
Huang Dashan nodded and said, "Add more oil and chopped green onions. Do you have chives? If so, make scrambled eggs with chives."
Lin Bilan said with a faint smile: "If there are no leeks, how could I not know you? If there are, I would have said I would make you scrambled eggs with leeks."
Huang Dashan said with some regret: "Then let's have a plate of scrambled eggs. I can barely eat a couple of bites to fill my stomach."
Lin Bilan immediately went to the kitchen. After she left, Miao Xiuxiu asked, "Is it because my son-in-law has too much work that he didn't send anyone back with a message?"
Huang Dashan frowned, looked at Miao Xiuxiu angrily, and said loudly: "Mom, what do you mean? Can I still go out and fool around? I spend all my money on you, how can I have money to have fun? I work so hard for this family, and Mom doubts me so much?"
Miao Xiuxiu quickly waved her hands and said, "No, no, I'm old and confused, so I just asked you this question, please don't be angry."
Huang Dashan snorted coldly.
Bei Bitang's mood was in turmoil. She took the thermos and hurried to the tiger stove to fetch water.
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